Management and Organizations - Study Material and Assignments

This article discusses the importance of strategy and structure in an organization, the problem of bureaucracy, and the concept of Holacracy. It also explores how contingency factors of organizational design are at work in the case of Zappos and how an innovative culture is related to organizational structure. The article suggests applying the Holacracy business model to Apple's present structure to increase the innovation factor.

Running head: MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS
MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS
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Activity 1
Section 1
In the video Yves Morieux talks about strategy and structure of business or any
organisation. It is crucial to inject and spread evenly the strategy that has been formulated by
the top brass of the business into the whole structure of the business. The business structure
comprises of all the employees and the total business process (Butler and Wilson 2015). The
business strategy is formulated generally by the top management. Often it happens that the
top management is not in sync with the common employees which creates a problem. Often
the strategies do not reach the whole structure of the organisation uniformly and problems of
communication start to happen.
Another point that he raised in the video is the problem of bureaucracy in the
organisation. The bureaucracy is started with positive intentions about bringing in
organisational changes that would be firm and stable. Therefore stability, and transparency
are some of the aspects which are aimed at before finally the system is started. However soon
the bureaucracy corrupts and the desired goal cannot be reached. Therefore it is imperative
for the organisation to go for a more flexible system that would be better for the
organisational health and the pace of the decision making will also go up considerably.
Section 2
The theories discussed can be applied on the company Apple Inc which is one of the
largest tech companies on earth today. Therefore it is one of the genuine problem for the
company that the strategic decisions taken by the top management does not reach the lower
level of the employees. Apple has its presence all over the globe, therefore transmitting the
message throughout the world in all parts of the organisation is crucial in this case. Therefore

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strategy and structure are very much important and interdependent upon each other (Kono
2016).
Ending bureaucracy is also one of the key goals of any organisation. There should be
faster decision making and there must be lesser complication in the process of innovations. In
tech, speed is seen fundamentally as a benefit in item improvement. Henceforth the "move
quick and break things" mindset, the pledge to least feasible items and nimble advancement.
Numerous individuals would concur that speed and deftness are the means by which you win
with regards to item. The craft of good basic leadership necessitates that one assemble
information and viewpoint from one’s group, and after that push toward an official
conclusion in a way that clarifies that all voices were heard.
Activity 2
Section 1
What’s your understanding of holacracy?
Holacracy is considered to be the latest management trend that has become very
famous in the business corridors of Silicon Valley. This new management trend is based on
the idea that every employee and the localised teams are having limited decision making
powers in their own areas of work (Robertson 2015). This system decentralizes power and
gives relief to the managers and top brass from taking all important decisions unilaterally.
The teams and individual employees may take decisions from their own end without
management permission.
How would you describe it compared to bureaucracy and team-based structure?

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Bureaucracy is basically division of the responsibilities where a particular person is
having a limited capacity of taking a fixed number of decisions. One person cannot go out of
his or her own job role in doing something that may be coming as an innovation to his or her
mind. Team based structures are hierarchical and the team members must take their approval
from the assistant team leader or team leader, who again has to take approval from the
managers and team leaders. However in the system of Holacracy the employees have a
greater role to play. They are expected to take independent decisions.
Discuss how Contingency Factors of Organisational Design are at work in the case of
Zappos?
“Holacracy is designed for risk-happy entrepreneurs”, therefore risk is a part of the
company structure in Zappos. The contingency plans in these kind of scenario is well decided
in the case of Holacracy (Van De Kamp 2014). A contingency plan is only developed when a
decision of a particular employee fails. It is seen that often an employee is given authority to
take decisions in the expectation of innovation, however if that innovation fails it is expected
that the managers take over the situation and launch contingency plans.
In what ways do you think innovative culture is related to organisational structure?
The organisations which are keen to take risks in to receive the desired benefits are
expected to have a business model where there will be both agile management and agile work
practices. The agile organisational structure is highly functional and efficient (Bernstein et al.
2016). The agile structure which involves a better decision making power and smarter
innovations is definitely what is required for the organisational structure needed in this case.
Section 2
This idea may be applied to the company Apple. Apple usually follows a structure
where the head of the various departments are directly responsible to the CEO of the

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company. From the time of Steve Jobs Apple has been dependant on the post of the CEO to a
large extant. Therefore the organisational structure is hierarchical. The Holacracy business
model must be applied to the company’s present structure which will increase the innovation
factor. The employees can take decisions locally which will reduce the burden from the top
management and therefore the top management can be engaged in giving their attention to
innovation in the business. There may be dedicated supervisors who will take actions
promptly whenever there is a necessary condition which have appeared due to a wrong
decision taken by an employee. It is a verified fact that the local decision making mechanisms
translate into better innovation. This is possible because the person locally in a particular
department is more knowledgable about what is going on at that place and therefore better
innovations automatically comes to his or her mind to solve a particular problem in that
department. This also reduces the time taken for a particular decision making process and
reduces the burden from the heads of the top brass.

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Reference:
Bernstein, E., Bunch, J., Canner, N. and Lee, M., 2016. Beyond the holacracy hype. Harvard
business review, 94(7), p.8.
Butler, R. and Wilson, D.C., 2015. Managing voluntary and non-profit organizations:
Strategy and structure. Routledge.
Kono, T., 2016. Strategy and structure of Japanese enterprises. Routledge.
Robertson, B.J., 2015. Holacracy: The new management system for a rapidly changing world.
Henry Holt and Company.
Van De Kamp, P., 2014. Holacracy—A radical approach to organizational design. Elements
of the Software Development Process-Influences on Project Success and Failure. University
of Amsterdam, pp.13-26.